Elan Vital
by Swythangel
Summary: [sequel on Devil In the Sun] When the fragile semblances of self encounters the one thing that can break it or temper it to hardness. BradKen
1. Default Chapter

Author: Swythangel   
Email: swythangel@hotmail.com   
Title: Elan Vital   
Type: Series 1/?   
Teaser: After all that has happened has Brad and Ken moved on with their lives?   
Rating: PG -13 (for now)   
Spoilers:   
Warnings: Shonen Ai, yaoi hints, AU   
Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz is not mine…you know the drill.   
Keywords: Ken, Brad, Aya, Schuldich   
Ack! Don't kill me! Evil plot bunnies cries>they just don't want to leave me alone. They started this. I had no intention of writing a sequel but Gott didn't happen and this did. burns bunnies>   
Trinity-chan's rendition of what happened (After Brad) was beautiful by the way and I have no intention of detracting from it. huggles Trinity-chan> But the bloody bunnies just didn't want me to leave Brad in the lurch at all. And I love Brad too ^-^ ahoho!   
I think this is a little sucky…^-^ but I still can't help writing this. It didn't want to leave me alone. However, you guys have more of a choice. If you think this sequel isn't going to do Devil In the Sun justice then tell me that it sucks and I will respect your decision and leave you guys alone. ^o^v   
Comments are always welcome and people who comment are loved ^-^ 

**Elan Vital**   
**(Sequel to Devil In the Sun)**

"Irasshaimase! And what may I do for you?" 

The words were cheerful enough, his smile happy enough but they never quite reached his eyes now, unlike before. 

His eyes. Eyes that once reflected a myriad of emotions that rivaled the spectrum of colors in the world… dancing eyes that made the sun's rays pale in comparison. Open trusting eyes. 

Gone was the vibrant gleam in those eyes. The cinnamon orbs now held hidden pain and anguish, cloudy and dark as the murky stream…hidden in an emotionless shield of dark chocolate. Dead eyes. 

Eversince he came back from his Schwarz abduction, Ken Hidaka had never been the same. He resembled a fragile bit of glass that fell on the cruel cold floor, broken into pieces. He also moved with the mechanical precision of a robot and rarely laughed at all these days- which wouldn't have worried anyone…if it was Aya who did it. But this was Ken and Ken's laugh always resounded in Koneko. Until now…it had been weeks since the others heard Ken laugh. 

"Come again! And thank you for stopping by." 

Warm insincere words that didn't fool the brooding redhead hidden in the shadows. 

Aya balled his hands into fist as he looked at Ken. He hated seeing Ken like this, hated seeing him pretend that everything was fine when he knew damn well that it wasn't. He hated Ken's inability to share what really happened when Schwarz captured him. But most of all, he hated Bradley Crawford, the source of all this. 

Unlike Youji and Omi who still wondered what sort of horrors Ken experienced, Ran *knew* exactly what happened. Schuldich had told him when Weiß had conveniently "captured" the Schwarz telepath. 

The telepath, Schuldich, had said it to taunt Aya. Throwing a mental image of Ken in the American's arms. A laughing, vibrant, happy Ken…in the Schwarz leader's arms. Aya hadn't known what to think or say. He had wanted to kill the Schwarz leader. 

*** 

3 months ago 

"You're mine, Kitty Cat!" 

Schuldich sneered and lunged at Aya before Brad could move. This provoked an involuntary sound of protest from the Schwarz leader though he did recover and lunged for the honey-blond assassin instead, displeasure in his sharp eyes. 

Crawford would not protest in front of the enemy. He believed in a united front. But Schuldich knew that there would be hell to pay once they got back, especially since the Schwarz leader seemed to have made torturing Abyssinian his personal Holy Grail in life. 

Abyssinian went home with a lot of bruises everytime Weiß and Schwarz met. Though the Weiß leader gave as good as he got. Crawford had a lot of sword nicks to deal with too. Somehow Schuldich felt that Siberian had something to do with this vendetta between the two. 

Well, whatever it was, Schuldich didn't care to analyze it or give the two another opportunity to injure each other. He had his own agenda tonight and he would follow through with it. 

He swiped at Abyssinian and while the redhead ducked, Schuldich entered his mind, slicing through his mental barriers like a hot knife through butter. He tasted Abyssinian's thoughts. A unique blend of anger, revenge, love and concern all rolled into one focused package out for his blood. 

_::Get out of my head, Schwarz.::_

Schuldich felt a mental push. But he stood his ground. 

_::My, my. Not exactly very friendly are we, Abyssinian?::_

The sword sang in the air in a vicious arch aimed for Schuldich's head. 

_::Not the talkative type either, I see.::_

Schuldich snickered, evading the sword with a grace and speed that complimented his lithe form. 

_::Shut up, Schwarz.::_

_::Its Schuldich, Abyssinian. Be polite now.::_

_::I don't fucking care, Schwarz!::_

Swipe. 

_::Is that any way to treat someone whose going to help you get back something you lost? Something *very* important to you?::_

The sword stops in mid-flight as Aya's interest was captured by the Schwarz member's mind-voice. 

Schuldich smirked, arrogant confidence radiating in Aya's head. It made him grit his teeth in anger. 

_::Aa, definitely interested now, eh, Abyssinian?::_

Aya savagely protested, swinging his sword once again. 

_::There is nothing you can help me with, Schwarz.::_

_::Isn't there?::_

Schuldich loved mindgames. And he was having fun with annoying the Weiß leader. Although he knew he had to come to the point sooner or later or Crawford would suspect. 

_::Nothing.::_

_::So this is nothing?::_

Shculdich threw a mental image of the Weiß member called Siberian into Aya's mind. And Aya staggered in startlement, falling to his knees. Violet eyes registered confusion and a flicker of something that Schuldich could only describe as hope. 

He smirked to himself. His hunch had been right to target this particular Weiß for his plan to work. 

_::Keep moving Abyssinian. Or everyone will think you're going nuts.::_

He kicked Aya in the ribs to accentuate his point. 

_::Wha…how…he's dead.::_

_::No, he isn't. He is very much alive and kicking.:: Schuldich remembered the image of Siberian Crawford had let slip. ::VERY much alive.::_

Aya tried to punch him. 

_::And you are going to help retrieve him?::_

_::Yes.::_

Suspicion. 

_::Forgive me for not trusting you Schwarz but how can I be sure this isn't a trap. There is the little matter that you want us all dead.::_

Schuldich chuckled, appreciating the irony. But he turned deadly serious. 

_::There is that. But rest assured that this isn't a trap. Schwarz does not know of this. It is for my **OWN** reasons that I do this. That it helps you is only incidental. In other words, Weiß, I am using you for my own ends. Satisfied?::_

It was to the point and honestly brutal. Schuldich meant it that way. He didn't have time to explain anything nor the patience to do so. 

When silence met him, Schuldich prodded Abyssinian. 

_::This is getting bored quick, Abyssinian. Do you or don't you want him back? I don't have the time for you to decide.::_

_/You know you want to, Fujimiya. *I* know you want to. Why hesitate at all?/_

_::All right.::_

_/Good./_

Schuldich sighed to himself. He needed this one's cooperation for his plan to work. 

_::Then we don't have much time.::_

Punch. 

_::What do we do?::_

_::You will have to capture me.::_

_::Capture?::_

_::Yes, Abyssinian. Trade me for your precious Siberian.:: /I doubt Crawford will let him out of his arms any other way./ ::There is no other way.::_

Schuldich could feel the proverbial eyebrow lifting as Abyssinian pondered on what he said. The redhead's next answer was a dry one. 

_::And I suppose you think it is easy to capture you when I can't even fucking hit you as it is?::_

Schuldich's taunting grin surfaced. 

_::Aa. I will take that as a compliment of my skills. But you will have help. Swipe at me for a three more times and I predict that I will stumble before the fourth. Slam your hilt on my head and render me unconscious. But make it so we will be too far away for the little brat to hit you with his telekinesis.::_

_::You seem to have planned this to the last detail.::_

Pride tinged Schuldich's voice as he responded. 

_::Of course. I am Schwarz. I am Schuldich. So will you do it?::_

_::Ninmu Ryoukai.::_

Schuldich would have crowed in elation as Abyssinian agreed. If he hadn't then Schuldich's plans would all have gone for naught. And he didn't want that. He needed to succeed. 

_::Alright…now!::_

Swipe, dodge, swerve, counter. 

Schuldich danced back, grinning like the devil, as Aya furiously lunged at him with the sword. To the casual observer, the Schwarz member was merely avoiding the furious assassin, being lured away from the main battleground to the alleyways that zigzagged outward. No one would have known that such a retreat had been intended. 

Swipe, swipe, dodge, stumble. 

Bam! 

The red-haired Schwarz member fell to the ground, his grasp on unconsciousness fading. 

_/Damn. That hurt./_

And with that final thought, Schuldich fell to the ground at Aya's feet, too far away from the battlefield for the other Schwarz members to see or rescue. Just as Schuldich had intended from the start. 

*** 

Schuldich opened the door quietly and let himself in the pristine, expensively decorated office that Bradley Crawford called his sanctum. 

The bespectacled, raven-haired Schwarz leader was still typing away on his laptop, immersed in work. The intensity by which he threw himself into his work was frightening. The man was like a machine. He made the word "workaholic" pale in comparison. "Bradholic" would have been a better description. 

Working…Schuldich wanted to punch some sense into the Schwarz leader. Bradley had been working like the devil incarnate even now that Esset no longer existed to make demands on Schwarz. Schwarz were free agents now. 

Crawford said he needed the focus. That Schwarz needed to keep busy. But Schuldich knew it was a load of crap. Needing focus didn't mean going through work with the intensity of a man who seemed to have a death wish on his head. Keeping busy didn't mean working himself into dead exhaustion every night. 

*** 

Bradley Crawford, leader of Schwarz, focused on his work. Ignoring his fatigued body's demands to rest. Resting meant staying idle. Staying idle meant thinking. And all mental roads led to one person, one voice, one face. A pair of eyes whose last reflected image of Brad had been one filled with betrayal. 

_/How is he doing, I wonder…/_

No. That was a dangerous thought. One Brad could ill afford to give in to. Weiß thought Schwarz were dead. He would think that Brad was dead. It was for everyone's good. 

As Schuldich had kept telling him before… He is Weiß and Brad was Schwarz, and never the twain shall meet. 

Reasonable, practical and logical. The only things that Schuldich ever said that were sensible. Words that should have appealed to Brad's ordered mind. But they had not. Not even when he realized them for the truth they carried and gave up the one thing that he had wanted above everything. 

His heart had felt torn but he had sublimated it for the good of Schwarz. He was their leader and he owed them his loyalty. He pushed all thoughts of him to the back of his head, placing iron control over memories as they fought for their respective sides once again, made his face impassive as he let Farfarello cut him up in the sorties. 

It helped to have something to do even if it was for Esset. Now Schwarz were free agents, Bradley found that he had too much time to think. And the iron control wavered. The memories trickled back in. 

Ken…. 

The monitor screen blinked the word at him. Bradley didn't realize that he had typed his name in until he saw the name in big bold letters in front of him. He quickly erased the name from the screen, rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes as he leaned on his chair. 

_::Just remember Brad. He is Weiß and you are Schwarz, and never the twain shall meet.::_

Yes, even now that Schwarz betrayed Esset, Schwarz would still be Schwarz and Weiß would still be Weiß. 

It still hurt. 

If he could erase the memories with a vicious uppercut, he would have. He didn't want or need them anymore. He had thought he could get over it soon enough but the rich carefree laugh and shining eyes of Ken Hidaka were deeply etched in his mind. 

_/Damn./_

*** 

Schuldich caught a whiff of Brad's thoughts as the American leaned back on his chair. The image was that of shining brown eyes with auburn hair tumbling into them, laughter ringing out in delight as he spoke Brad's name. The taste of the thought, one of yearning and confused anger. 

_/Up to now, Brad? How can you think of him like this up to now./_

Brad. If Schuldich had called him that in a playful way, Crawford would have ripped his lungs from his chest for his audacity. As it was, Schuldich only dared use Crawford's Christian name when he was taunting Crawford. At least those times, Crawford was too busy being angry to notice that he had called him Brad. But Ken Hidaka had called him Brad and got away with it. 

Schuldich clenched his hands at this. 

_/He had to go Bradley. He had to. You used to be focused on Schwarz. But when he came in, you changed. He made you soft, lured you away from us. Schwarz will be here far longer than Ken Hidaka will ever be for you. Bradley./_

He stared at the unguarded tired expression on the raven-haired Schwarz leader's face and saw the shadows beneath his eyes, normally hidden by the glasses he wore, noted the furrows of tightly clenched emotions running down the side of the American's face. 

_/Schwarz will always be here for you. As will I./_

TBC 

^_~ Can you see where this is headed? lol> 


	2. The Stranger Beneath

Author: Swythangel  
  
Email: swythangel@hotmail.com  
  
Title: Elan Vital  
  
Type: 2/?  
  
Teaser: After all that has happened has Brad and Ken moved on with their lives?  
  
Rating: PG -13`  
  
Spoilers:  
  
Warnings: Shonen Ai, yaoi hints, AU  
  
Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz is not mine…you know the drill  
  
Keywords: Ken, Brad, BradxKen, Aya, Schuldich, RanKen, BradSchu  
  
Its not Gott…gomen! But somehow this just popped out and I can't help but write it. If anyone remembers this from waaay before I'd appreciate the comments. Tell me if this is still worthwhile to write ne? ^^  
  
I'm into angst again, oh joy! ^o^v This is unbetaed and came out in one hour. Forgive the grammatical errors.  
  
FF.net: Whee! See I'm a good girl, this is the real last call. All my fics will only appear in my Yahoo! Groups ML except for Gott and To Heed the Heart's Desire. ^^ That's http://groups.yahoo.com/swythchanfics. Domo!  
  
Elan Vital  
  
::Sequel to Devil In the Sun::  
  
Part 2/?  
  
Clawing, raking…  
  
…raw flailed skin dripping blood.  
  
Want out. Want…  
  
To be free.  
  
To scream.  
  
To cry…  
  
….who is this stranger inside my skin?  
  
***  
  
Aya peered into the soccer player's room, eyes squinting a little as it adjusted to the growing twilight outside. The room was in darkness, it seemed that the occupant preferred it that way as he hunched up on the bed, deep in thought.  
  
Or at least that was how it looked to Aya.  
  
Normally he would have respected the privacy of the individual within. No one more than he understood how precious solitude could be. But normalcy had no place in the events that surrounded the occupant of the room.  
  
Normalcy would have been lights turned up to their very brightness. Normalcy would have been boisterous music accompanied by a loud oftimes off- key singing and maybe, just maybe a bit of uncoordinated spontaneous dancing. Normalcy would have had Aya and Omi sticking their heads inside said room and shouting at the occupant to tone down the music.  
  
Normalcy would not have had this thick darkness that almost seemed tangible enough to hold. It would not have made the occupant huddle in on himself at the very corner of the room where the darkest shadows dwelt. He who had always loved the light.  
  
As far as Aya was concerned, normalcy died the day Ken Hidaka came home with lifeless eyes. All that was left was a reasonable facsimile. A facsimile he did not want and was not willing to accept.  
  
"Ken."  
  
His voice sliced through the tangible darkness like the katana he wielded, breaking the silence into thousands of little pieces, the deep baritone hurtful to the ear because of the lack of sound inside the room.  
  
The disheveled head rose to pin Aya with startled eyes as the boy on the bed scrabbled for the covers. It was only then that Aya realized that the brunette had been naked.  
  
After pulling the covers to his chest, Ken's brown eyes rose once more to pin Aya with a chastising glare…as if it was sacrilegious to break the silence around him.  
  
It caused Aya's chin to raise just a fraction of an inch. /You have wallowed in your despair long enough. It is time to come back to us./ Violet eyes challenged brown ones.  
  
A challenge that simply slid off the smooth wall that slammed down the chocolate orbs as a smile quickly appeared on Ken's lips.  
  
"Aya, you could have knocked ne?"  
  
Cheerful voice, happy smile. It would have been perfect…except for the fact that it did not reach his eyes. It never did now, Aya noticed. It grated on Aya's nerves as he longed to shake Ken, to put some sense into him. But for now, he chose to play it Ken's way. For now.  
  
"Would you have answered?" Aya said in his usual brusque tone.  
  
"Of course." Came the too quick reply.  
  
/Lie./ Aya's mind said but he chose to keep his silence.  
  
"So what was it you came here for?" Ken said, fidgeting with the covers as he tried to pull it tightly around him.  
  
"Manx. Basement. We have a briefing remember?" Aya said quirking up an eyebrow at Ken's reticence. "We've been waiting for you for ten minutes."  
  
"Ack! You're right. I completely forgot." Ken said, slapping a hand on his forehead, only to quickly pull it back into the confines of the bedcovers. "Gomen ne. I'll be along shortly. I'll just go change into some clothes. You go on ahead, Aya, and thanks."  
  
"No time. Go ahead and change, I'll wait for you right here."  
  
"I insist Aya. You go on ahead. I'll be right along." Ken insisted, clutching the covers more tightly.  
  
"Ken," Aya said, divining the reason for Ken's stubborness, "there's nothing in there that I haven't seen before. Who do you think patched you up when you hurt yourself in our sorties?" He said in an amused gentle tone.  
  
"Still…" Ken fidgeted. "I'd prefer some privacy."  
  
Aya narrowed his eyes, suspicion creeping into his mind. Ken had never been this modest before. Something was wrong and it made Aya stride nearer to the bed. With each step he took, the covers tightened.  
  
Finally when Aya was near the foot of the bed, he noticed a scent that permeated the vicinity…a sickly sweet coppery smell that was as familiar to Aya as his own scent…one an assassin could not forget…it was the smell of blood.  
  
And it came from under the covers. Aya yanked at the offending material.  
  
"Aya, what are you doing?" Ken squawked as he tightened his hold on the covers around him.  
  
"What are you hiding, Ken?" Aya's voice had turned to steel, determination digging furrows in the lines around his mouth as he advanced towards Ken, pulling at the covers with all his strength.  
  
"Nothing!"  
  
There was no give in Ken's hold on the covers even as Aya turned a glare Ken's way. "Then why won't you let me take the covers?"  
  
"Because I'm naked under them that's why!"  
  
"And I told you I've seen you naked before. Now let go."  
  
"No." Ken glared.  
  
"Yes." Ran countered. "Its useless to argue, Ken. I will have my way. You will give me the covers. Or I will have the others help me.  
  
Which will it be? Me alone or the others with me?"  
  
"Damn you to hell and back, Fujimiya!" Ken said vehemently. He threw one last heated glare at Aya before the tension on the covers relaxed. And Aya gently pulled the covers back not knowing what to expect but expecting the worst.  
  
Purple eyes widened in shock. Just for a minute though as he sprang into action, going into Ken's bathroom to get the first-aid kit.  
  
Nothing would have prepared him for what he saw. Gashes ran through Ken's chest, all the way to his back. Deep and shallow wounds of different lengths, some still bleeding, others angry welts colored purple, blue, yellow criss-crossing all throughout the chest and back.  
  
The wounds had ragged edges, as if someone had torn through them. Like a fowl's feet or tiger claws. But no such beast could have gotten to Ken in such a short time. Aya thought to himself as he treated and bandaged a silent Ken's wounds.  
  
And as Aya's mind continued along that path…he had his answer. Ken's bugnuks could deal such wounds.  
  
He drew in a deep shuddering breath, the sickly smell flooding his nostrils and he struggled not to retch as he took hold of Ken's shoulders. "Kisama…Ken…you could have bled to death."  
  
Ken would not look Aya in the eye, lashes sweeping down to cover his eyes as he shrugged himself out of Aya's grip. Arms came up to hug himself.  
  
"Go ahead." Ken said in a deadened voice that told Aya he did not care.. "Tell me what a disgusting idiot I am."  
  
"And why should I do that?"  
  
"What else can you say? Self-mutilation isn't exactly very normal."  
  
"How about you telling me why you did it instead?"  
  
"You would not understand." Ken shrugged.  
  
"Why don't you try me?" Aya said softy.  
  
Maybe it was because Ken had spent all his emotional reserves or maybe it was because Aya neither condemned him nor offered pity. Whatever it was, it cracked the mind numbing walls inside Ken and he finally broke.  
  
The walls came down in seconds and pain, raw, blinding pain drowned out the velvet brown depths of Ken's expressive eyes. Aya wanted to rush in and hold the boy tight in his arms but he knew that it was too soon.  
  
"I did it to take him out."  
  
"Him?" Aya queried.  
  
"The stranger inside me. The one whose pain fills me so thoroughly that I cannot think straight, the one who yearns for something he cannot, should not have.  
  
I just thought that maybe, if I scratched deep enough, hard enough, I'd be able to get him out. Then I can return to being me. I want to be me, Aya, the old me. The one who laughs and teases and trips over the least little things.  
  
I want to be able to enjoy the sun once again, not curse it for letting me live another day without….without…"  
  
Understanding was in Aya's purple eyes as he gently pulled the suffering boy close. He had promised himself that he would go slow, knowing the pain was still raw, but he could not stand the brunette's suffering.  
  
As startled brown eyes looked up at him. Aya looked down on the confused, hurt boy in his arms with the gentlest expression in his eyes. "You will forget him eventually. I will help you because…because…Ai shitteru, Ken. I love you." He kissed Ken's forehead.  
  
Somewhere in a darkened sanctum, a pair of eyeglasses fell on a cold marble floor, shattering into useless shards as nerveless fingers failed to take hold of them.  
  
A prophetic vision had come true.  
  
TBC ^___~ Comments onegai?  
  
I still want it to be BradKen. But in the meantime it's a RanKen chapter ne? ^^ Who knows how this will turn up… 


	3. Veering Away

Elan Vital  
::Sequel to Devil In the Sun::  
Part 3  
  
  
He stared at the broken shards that littered the floor near his feet.   
No confusion clouded the eyes that seem to drill into the floor, as   
if intending to set fire to the reading glasses for even daring to   
fall from the table.   
  
A man who believed that everything occurred for a reason, Crawford   
knew this too had its own. He knew it could only be one thing. One of   
his visions had come through and he had a feeling he knew which one.  
  
He rubbed eyes grown weary from too much time spent staring into the   
glaring monitor and buried his face into his hands for a moment.  
  
To rest for a while, to think.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
He dreamed a dream last night...  
  
of a solitary cabin up in the mountains;   
  
of a cheerful fire that crackled inside a room that smelled of pine;  
  
of a man split in two by responsibility and his desires;  
  
of a man-boy with Stockholmed eyes torn by indecision;  
  
...of a relationship destined to end.  
  
  
In his dream the man would always open the cabin door quietly,   
hesitantly, as if questioning his decision to do so. He would debate   
with himself on the logic behind his actions and finally would   
succumb to his first impulse, because there was nothing else he could   
do but surrender. Because he knew that he would break into thousands   
of pieces inside regardless if he refused to obey what he felt or   
not. Because it was inevitable. Because it was fate.  
  
In his dream the man-boy would be pacing in the room, or looking into   
the fireplace, or playing chess by himself, mumbling softly, lips   
pursed, brows drawn. The man didn't need his gift to know what the   
other was thinking. It was the same thought that remained paramount   
in his own.  
  
He knew. They both knew.  
  
Both would continue to fool themselves for as long as they could   
because the other option was not acceptable by any standards at all.  
  
In his dream the man would walk softly into the room, leather shoes   
muffled by the carpeted floor, and when he was close enough, he would   
breath one word, one name...  
  
And the man-boy would smile, troubled eyes clearing at the sound of   
the man's voice, his lips forming the man's name...  
  
In his dream, he could feel the man-boy's breath on his face, a   
welcome and warm caress on his cheek in the darkness of the bedroom,   
as the man-boy softly told him...   
  
Too soon though reality intrudes and he wakens from his bed, a frown   
on his face at the remembered memory. He is not allowed to feel this,   
not allowed to imagine a time long past recall. For that way was the   
road to ruin of all that he and his companions had worked for,   
nothing could come of it, not when insurmountable odds block the way   
and the bridges have been burned.  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Abyssinian, Sector 3 is all clear. You may proceed."   
  
"Acknowledged." Aya rose from his crouched position. It was time.  
  
Static crackled through the communicators as Aya went too near Ken,   
tapping the shoulder of the other assassin lightly.  
  
"Ikemasu."  
  
Aya did not even wait for Ken's affirmative nod as he surged forward   
on cat-silent feet. He knew Ken would follow closely behind, serving   
as back-up should there be more than Aya could handle.  
  
If Aya had any doubts on Ken's sanity in the normal world, he did not   
carry them here. In the shrouded darkness of the night, the younger   
man took on the identity of Siberian, assassin, dangerous harbinger   
of death. He neither hesitated nor pulled back, fulfilling his share   
of responsibilities as before.  
  
If Siberian was a tad too intense as he closed in for the kill, his   
teammates turned a blind eye. Because surely it was an aftereffect of   
past events, one that did not harm the mission's objective or   
Siberian himself. Morever, Aya thought, if it would serve to pacify   
the turmoil inside Ken then why not? They had past all semblance of   
morality to worry about the rightness of the situation.   
  
All that mattered was that they had Ken back.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
His back protested as muscles were pulled, the drying scabs being   
ripped out and producing new wounds beneath the bandages that wrapped   
Ken's entire chest. He didn't slow down, sublimating the pain as he   
followed behind Abyssinian's wake.  
  
Ken felt the pain, Siberian did not. Siberian had a mission to   
fulfill, he did not need weaknesses to impede his efficiency.  
  
There was a time, his subconscious thought, when Ken and Siberian   
could co-exist in one situation. But now…  
  
"Snap out of it, Siberian." Abyssinian's cold voice penetrated his   
thoughts. "We are nearing a high concentration zone."  
  
"Hai."   
  
"Balinese, Bombay, rendezvous in Section 4. Be prepared, targets are   
heavily armed."  
  
If Aya had turned around he would have found Siberian with an eerie   
smile on his face.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Any heebie-jeebies, mein herr Oracle?" Schuldich said, leaning over   
his chair to look at Crawford.  
  
"None." Crawford said succinctly, ignoring the German's obvious jab.  
  
"Tch. You look like you have something stuck in your arse. Oops, you   
always look like something is stuck up your arse. My mistake."  
  
Crawford did not even deign Schuldich with a reply. It was Nagi who   
sharply retorted: "Schuldich. Shut up."   
  
There WAS something niggling at the back of Crawford's mind. One with   
the power to distract Crawford from his mission objective, if he let   
it. The question of letting it slip was of course out of the   
question. Nothing ever slipped from Crawford's iron control. This,   
too, would not. It would not slip past his shields for Schuldich to   
read.  
  
Schuldich didn't even have to use his power. He knew what was going   
on in Crawford's head. He knew what the Schwarz leader was worried   
about.  
  
"Landing in Tokyo airport in 5 minutes. Please stay in your seats and   
fasten your seatbelts."  
  
No, it didn't take a mindreader to find out what Crawford was worried   
about.  
  
TBC Comments onegai?  
  
What? Its actually developing a plot? OMG!  
  
Not dead. w00t! Not that alive either. ehehe.  



End file.
